Sold for $189

Handwritten sheet music accomplished in ink, unsigned but possibly written by [Francis] Hall Johnson. Approx. 8 1/2 x 11 in. paper mounted on board (toned especially along top edge line, partially clipped left side resulting in omission of "S" from "Soprano," vertical crease running top to bottom at center). Accompanied by photograph of Johnson's musical group the Hall Johnson Negro Choir, ca 1937, 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. (small circular abrasions top left, light wear). Photograph is mounted with adhesive to white foam board surmounting the sheet music, which is also mounted to foam board, overall 12 1/2 x 23 3/4 in. (creasing to mounting board, adhesive residue on verso).

Honor! Honor! was a negro spiritual recorded by Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, and other prominent singers. The sheet music indicates this arrangement of the classic song was by Johnson, an exceptionally gifted professional musician who transitioned into the arrangement and performance of spirituals and choral music. Johnson is also well-known for forming the Hall Johnson Negro Choir in 1925, and for arranging music for more than thirty feature-length Hollywood films. 

Consignor relates that this lot was acquired from an African American collector in Harlem who opened the National Black American Historical Museum on 116th St. and Lenox Ave. in Harlem in the 1960s-1970s. This lot hung in that museum.